There’s a violence implict in all of these comments, but some of them contain explicit threats – it’s perhaps worth noting that people were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for far less serious (and far more jovial) facebook postings during the riots. Owen Langstone in particular might want to reflect on that.

I see the old ‘freedom of speech’ chesnut is being rolled out again. If you ever see any of these people in real life feel free to tell them that they’re wankstains on the trouser leg of humanity to their face – they won’t mind one iota – indeed, they’ll recognise you as a fellow ‘banterer’ and show the utmost respect to your right to free speech.

6 thoughts on “‘Banter’”

Is Owen Langstone the one who threatened to stab whoever reported the site? I particularly (dis)liked the way rape jokes were scattered through the comment thread. One guy did it under his real name, which was silly: http://t.co/RRLwINPH

A couple of days ago I got into a massive row with an American comedian who – after Presidential candidate Rick Santorum said “I believe and I think that the right approach is to accept this horribly created, in the sense of rape, but nevertheless, in a very broken way, a gift of human life, and accept what God is giving to you.” responded with “Rick needs to get raped”. I questioned the ethics and morals of anyone who thought condoning rape – even in jest – was a good idea. Imagine my shock when – over the next few days – i was bombarded with angry messages from this man’s supporters, all of them women, approving his stance and his right to free speech. Then, within hours, I heard about this.

I don’t get it. I was always brought up to believe that rape was among the most heinous of human crimes. It was not the subject of jokes. It was not something to wish on your worst enemy.
When the hell did I become so out of step with common decency and humanity that I failed to notice this had changed?